A Walk With Fire
by savvyliterate
Summary: Kagome never imagined that another could do a time slip the same way she did. But, when she's asked to help a sick man in another village, she learns that she isn't alone in the past. crossover with The Firetripper
1. Part One

A Walk With Fire  
by DQBunny

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DISCLAIMER: Both Inuyasha and The Firetripper do not belong to me, but are works written by Takahashi Rumiko. I'm just borrowing their respective characters for a little while.

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_When we completed our mission to find the Shikon no Tama and defeat Naraku, not much changed for us. The first time I went home following everything, I briefly wondered if the well would close behind me after I went through. Unfortunately, I didn't think of this until as I was actually slipping through time and I panicked, thinking for a moment that I would never see Inuyasha nor my friends again._

_Thankfully, my fears proved unfounded. Inuyasha followed me about five minutes later, with my sleeping bag in one hand and barking out a request for ramen. I was so grateful that I forgot to "osuwari" him for causing a ruckus._

_And so, things remained as they always were, except that now I attended school every day instead of two days every couple of weeks. My afternoons and weekends I spent in the Sengoku Jidai with my friends. As the years slid by, I simply took everything forgranted. In fact, it was hard to imagine life before I started slipping through time._

_But sometimes, something comes along that makes you grateful for what you have. I found this out in the summer after I graduated from high school._

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Part One

"Kagome? Could you come out here a moment?"

Kagome eyed the bubbling pot of rice that hung over the fire, her latest nemesis. It'd taken her a little bit of doing, but she had both her mother and Kaede giving her cooking lessons. She decided if it was the last thing she'd do, she'd get Inuyasha to prefer her cooking over the ramen that he adored.

"Kagome?"

"Coming, Kaede-baa-san." She wiped her hands on a rag and stepped into her shoes before walking out of the hut.

An older gentlemen stood with Kaede, his yukata dirty around the hems from traveling. She noted the sweat running down his cheeks and the wild gestures he made as he rattled off in old, formal Japanese to the miko. Kaede motioned toward Kagome and the man's attention swung to her. He ran to her feet and fell to the ground.

"You're her! You're Kagome-sama! You're the only one who can save us," the man cried. "She...my sister-in-law heard of you, but we swore it wasn't true. We didn't think a person like you existed! Please, you must help us, Kagome-sama!"

Kagome bit back a sigh. More than likely, he wanted her to use the Shikon no Tama to help out his village. With Oda Nobunaga's troops intensifying their sweeps of the countryside and the drought that plagued the land since the year before, she wasn't surprised.

"I'm sorry, oji-san, but so far, we have decided not to utilize the Shikon no Tama and..."

"Shikon no Tama?" The man sat back on his heels and gave her a confused look. "I don't need the Shikon no Tama."

You are a rare breed indeed, Kagome thought wryly. "Then, what's the problem, oji-san?"

"My brother is extremely ill. They have him seperated from the other villagers, because my sister-in-law says that what he has can be spread easily to others. She said she remembered hearing about you a couple of years ago, that you were a girl from a foreign time that sought the Shikon no Tama. She said that you would have the tools necessary to cure my brother's illness."

Kagome frowned. Many people focused on the quest for the Shikon, not the fact that she was from another time. Many said simply that she was from a foriegn country. Curiousity got the best of her. Someone knew she was from the future and that she had medicine available to treat illness that wasn't available here. She never thought about anyone being able to do a time slip other than her. Could there be others like herself in the past?

"Let me get my first aid kit and my companions. We'll go at once," she said. "How far away is the village?"

"About 50 ri."

About a three day journey, two if they really pushed it, she thought, running into the hut. She snatched up her yellow backpack, which had her first aid kit, a change of clothes, some water and her sleeping bag. She shrugged it over her shoulders as she walked out and saw Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kirara waiting for her. She smiled. "I didn't even have to look for you," she said.

"Keh! I heard everything." Inuyasha said.

"Take Kirara," Sango offered. "She can get you there a lot faster."

"I'm coming too!" Shippo cried, scampering up to take his place on Kagome's shoulder.

She noticed the older man giving the hanyou and the kitsune a wary look. "They're a package," she said. "If you don't take them, I won't go."

The man hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Fine, fine. It's a small price to pay for my brother's health."

"We're going to remain here," Miroku whispered in Kagome's ear. "Sango still hasn't recovered."

Kagome cast a glance at Sango, who had moved to talk to Kaede. The taijya had miscarried her and Miroku's first child earlier in the spring. "It's been a couple of months. Maybe us being gone will be a good time to spend time with her again."

"I am hoping that proves true, Kagome-sama."

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They made it to the man's village faster than she thought. They arrived just before dark the day after they left Musashi's domain.

The man, who told them his name was Takao, escorted them to a hut on the edge of the village, close to the small shrine they had. He pushed aside the mat that hung over the entrance. "Onee-sama? Onee-sama? I've brought her. Kagome-sama from Musashi's domain. She really exists!"

A woman emerged from the hut. Her face was lined with exhaustion and worry, but she appeared to be no older than 30 years old. She still wore her hair long and tied in the back, much like Sango did. Two long tendrils escaped the tie and framed her heart-shaped face. She clasped her hands in front and bowed formally. "Kagome-sama, I am honored to meet you. I am Suzuko, wife to the warrior Shukumaru."

Kagome heard a quick intake of breath behind her and she glanced back to see Shippo staring at Suzuko with wide eyes. "You're kidding, right? Shukumaru, the warrior, is your husband?"

"You know him?" Inuyasha asked.

"Know him?" Shippo yelled. "He's famous! You know how many of Nobunaga's troops he's destroyed single-handedly? There's not a human warrior alive who's better than him. How can you not have heard of him?"

Inuyasha plucked Shippo off his shoulder and dangled him in the air. "In case you've forgotten, I've spent the majority of this century stuck to a damn tree!" He tossed Shippo over his shoulder, and the kitsune landed on his head and started crying.

Kagome sighed. "Osuwari!" As Inuyasha crashed to the ground, she bowed to Suzuko. "I apologize deeply for behaving so rudely. I am Higurashi Kagome, and these are my companions, Inuyasha, Shippo and Kirara. How can we assist your husband?"

Suzuko pushed aside her hut entrance. "Can we talk for a little bit? I do not have much food to offer, for my children are staying with my husband's parents and he is with the village miko as she nurses him. But, there is something I need to show you."

Kagome followed her into the hut and sank onto her knees near the fire. Shortly after, a bedraggled Inuyasha and Shippo followed, with Kirara in her kitten form at their heels. They watched as Suzuko lifted the lid of a wooden box and pulled out several garmets. She crawled back to them and spread the garmets out at their feet.

Kagome gasped. Shippo and Inuyasha leaned over, their eyes wide. "Say, those look like your clothes, Kagome!" Shippo commented.

"They are...these are high school fuku. I recognize the school. It's across Tokyo from my own." Kagome's eyes met Suzuko's. "You're from my time, aren't you?"

"Another one here like Kagome?" Shippo asked. "Did she come through the well?"

"Idiot. If she had, Kaede-baba would have said something," Inuyasha said, his focus still on Suzuko, more than a little awed that someone just like Kagome existed in the Sengoku Jidai. They pretty much knew that Miroku, Sango, Shippo nor anyone else could pass through the well. The same held true on Kagome's side, the one time Souta tried to go through proved it. He never thought there could be anyone else like her.

"What year is it now, Kagome-sama? In your time?"

"The year 2000. It's the start of the new milleniumn there."

"I see." Suzuko smiled. "I guessed right then. I came back here 17 years ago, or the year 1983 for you. I was 15 years old when I first came through the fire back to this time."

"Fire?"

Suzuko nodded. "I am known as the Fire Tripper. When I was growing up, I kept having strange memories of being inside of a burning house. One day, I was walking home with a young boy from the neighborhood, Shuhei, when there was a large gas explosion. When I woke up, I was here on a battlefield in the Sengoku Jidai. A group of warriors found me and attempted to rape me, but I was saved by my husband, Shukumaru."

Suzuko picked up one last article of clothing, a little boy's shirt. "Shukumaru demanded I put on some proper clothing, and when I went to do so, I came across this shirt. It belonged to Shuhei. I realized that he had passed through to the past and was lost here somewhere. We tried to find him, but we couldn't do so. Instead, I started to fall in love with Shukumaru and grew close to a little girl named Suzu. As time passed, I realized that Suzu was in fact myself when I was little and that I was actually born in the Sengoku Jidai."

She laughed at the blank stares she was rewarded with from her visitors. "I know, it sounds quite complicated. I discovered later that fire allows me to travel through time. The best I can figure is that when I was a little girl here, my home burned down. Instead of me dying, I went to the future. That incident happened while I was in the future with Shukumaru. We had gone back to my time after I saved him from a burning log. When I went to clean Shukumaru's wounds, I discovered that he was in fact Shuhei, the neighboorhood boy I had lost. He got thrown back to an earlier time than I and was raised in this village. He was so happy here that we decided to use the magic of fire one last time and return to this village. We married and had three children."

"A week or so ago, Shukumaru contracted influenza. I immediately got the village to sequester him and nursed him myself. However, the supplies I'd brought with me from the future ran out years ago, and he is getting worse by the day. That was when I remembered hearing the stories about you, Kagome-sama." Suzuko chuckled. "It's strange, I know, and a burden to drag you all the way out here, but if you have a bottle of aspirin..."

Kagome cracked a smile. "That I do. But, there's some more medicine I can go get to help with Shukumaru-san's illness."

"You can return to your time?"

Kagome briefly explained the well and the time slip between her time and the Sengoku Jidai. She stood and asked Suzuko to excuse herself and Inuyasha. She asked Shippo to remain behind as they walked out of the hut.

"I need to go back to my time," she said, quietly.

"I know."

"But I need you to stay here. I know you don't like it," she hastily added after Inuyasha rewarded her with a scowl. "But, I need to get the medicine for Suzuko-san. It'll be faster for me to travel on Kirara going at full speed."

"I..." He turned his back on her. "Fine. Do what you need to do."

Kagome felt a headache pushing at her temples and she sighed. She didn't have time to deal with him. "I'm off, then. Kirara?"

Kirara ran out of the hut and transformed. Kagome climbed on her back, then started when a heavy weight also hopped on. She looked back to see Inuyasha settled behind her. "I thought I asked you would stay."

"I never said that I would. Shippo can stay with her."

Before Kagome could reply, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her against him. The action stunned her to the point where she failed to notice for a few minutes that they were airborne. She glanced down and noticed that he looped his hands together in front of her waist, gripping her like a lifeline. She ached to turn around and see the expression on his face, but instead, settled back against his chest to sleep.

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They reached the well within a few hours and made the journey back through to her time. Kagome noticed that Inuyasha kept a tight grip on her hand this time, only dropping it as they entered the kitchen to greet her mother.

"Of course, we'll go to the drugstore right away," Higurashi Kasumi untied her apron and pulled it off. "I've wondered a time or two if there were others like you who've gone to the past."

"You're not surprised?" Kagome asked.

"Well, you know your story of your uncle and Jyusenko. After that and what you've been through the past few years, I believe anything now." Kasumi grinned at her daughter and headed for the front door. She grabbed her purse, then paused. "You said the woman's name was Suzuko?"

"Yes."

Kasumi rested a hand on the doorknob and thought for a moment. "I do remember it, actually. It happened right after your second birthday, Kagome. There was a huge gas explosion on the other side of Tokyo and they said that two schoolchildren died in it. Takani Suzuko and Yugero Shuhei. They did a big article about it in the paper two years ago, for the fifteenth anniversary of their deaths. I believe Suzuko's parents still live near where the accident took place. Funny. I remember them insisting they felt their daughter was still alive."

"Because no bodies were ever found, right?"

Kasumi nodded. "It puzzled the police as well. They suspected kidnappers, runaways, anything. Finally, they determined that they died and the fire was so hot that it reduced their bones to ashes."

Inuyasha frowned. "Idiots. Well, they are!" he protested when Kagome and Kasumi gave him confused looks. "Kikyo was cremated when she died. Kaede-baba said that. Her bones survived, didn't they?"

"Police said...well, that's a story for when we have more time. Come on." Kasumi ushered the two out the door.

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It didn't take long for them to get the medicine. After that, Kasumi took Kagome and Inuyasha to the library. The women laughed at Inuyasha's reaction to having so many books in one location. Kagome promised to bring him back another time to show him around and Kasumi looked up the articles on the microfilm machine.

Even though it was night by the time they got back to the shrine, Kagome insisted on going back as soon as possible. They stopped on the way back to pick up fast food to eat. Even though he loved ramen, Kagome discovered that Inuyasha also liked hamburgers and French fries on occassion as well. They ate and rested as they headed back to Suzuko's village.

Shukumaru was awake and somewhat coherent. While Suzuko tended to her husband, Kagome relayed the news that her mother told her.  
  
"My parents are still alive?" Suzuko sat back on her haunches, the bottle of flu medicine in hand. "And Shukumaru's as well?"

Kagome nodded and held out a photocopy of the newspaper article that ran a few years earlier. "Your parents live in the same house that they've always been in. Shuhei...Shukumaru-san's parents moved to America ten years ago."

Suzuko put down the medicine and took up the article. She scanned the lines talking about the accident and her parents' reaction to it.

"You should let them know you're alive."

Suzuko looked up at her husband, who had propped himself on his arms. "How would I? We agreed that we wouldn't risk me going through the fire any longer."

"Maybe you could go through the well with Kagome-san."

"She said that only herself and Inuyasha-san could use the well." Suzuko stared at the article and ran her finger across the blurred image of herself at age 15. "Kagome-san, if it's not too much trouble, could you take them a letter for me?"

"Of course not, Suzuko-san!" Kagome beamed at her. "I'll be more than happy to do this."

She tossed a glance back at Inuyasha, halfway expecting him to groan and protest. Instead, he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, pinning her with a solemn gaze. Kagome frowned and turned back to Suzuko. "I've got some paper and a pen with me in my backpack."

"Wonderful! It's a bit frivilous, but I can't tell you how much I miss using a ballpoint pen." Suzuko grinned.

As Suzuko began to write, Kagome watched. Then, she moved to her backpack and silently withdrew a small disposable camera. As Suzuko bent over her task, Kagome snapped a couple of pictures and quickly tossed it back in her things.

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The next day, with the flu medicine helping Shukumaru, Kagome, Inuyasha, Shippo and Kirara returned to Kaede's village. They updated Miroku and Sango on the situation, including the story about Suzuko being from the future. Shortly after, Kagome headed back to the well. She expected Inuyasha to argue with her and was once again rewarded with silence. He simply followed her through. She showered and changed into a nice dress and came downstairs to see him waiting on her, baseball cap on his head to hide his ears.

"You don't have to go with me, you know," Kagome said.

"Keh. Of course I do. You're going to tell those folks everything, aren't you?"

Kagome bit her lip, then nodded. "I'm going to have to. I won't go into too much detail, but Suzuko's parents do need to know what happened to her and that does involve explaining how I go back to the past. I also have the scarf from her school uniform. It has her initials embrodiered into it." She tapped the purse that hung from her shoulder.

"Just in case, I'm going." Inuyasha marched out of the house.

Kagome ran out after him. "Wait a minute, Inuyasha!" She reached his side as he reached the top of the stairs. "What's bothering you?"

He snorted and glanced away. "It's nothing."

"It is too something."

"No it's not. Let's just do this and get it over with."

Kagome sighed. At least that sounded like the Inuyasha she knew and loved.

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They headed across town after a brief argument over Kagome refusing to let Inuyasha carry her on his back. Instead, she introduced him to Tokyo's subway system, which he absolutely hated. His eyes darted all over the train and he practically kept her glued to his side. She noticed that he wobbled slightly after getting off and figured he was dizzy because he wasn't used to the motion. So, she surprised him with a stop at a ramen stand.

They reached the Takani home about two hours after starting out of the shrine. Kagome paused outside the gate and studied the home. It seemed to be the average two-story Japanese home that looked about thirty years old. Suzuko mentioned the home was new when her parents bought it. She opened the gate and saw an elder woman, her hair peppered with gray, hunched over a flowerbed.

She straightened and turned to them, and Kagome knew she had to be Suzuko's mother. Though the hair was different, the face and the eyes were the same.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice slightly softer than Suzuko's.

"Takani-san? My name is Higurashi Kagome." Kagome bowed to her. "This is Inuyasha. I wanted to speak to you about your daughter, Suzuko."

"Suzuko?" The woman's face paled, but she held steady. "What news do you bring?"

Kagome took a deep breath, then opened her purse. She withdrew the scarf and handed it her.

The woman's hands trembled as she took the scarf and turned it over. without a word, her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Inuyasha swore, then rushed forward to catch her right before she hit the ground.

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"I apologize for fainting on you," the woman apologized as she reclined on the couch.

"It's no problem," Kagome said with a smile, as she walked in from the kitchen holding a mug of tea. "I hope you don't mind our intrusion, Takani-san."

"It's not a problem, Higurashi-san." Kagome helped Mrs. Takani to sit up and drink her tea. She set the cup aside, then took Kagome's hand in hers. "That scarf proves to me that Suzuko is alive. Where is she? Is she ill? Is that why she sent you instead of coming herself?"

"Not exactly." Kagome handed her the envelope. Suzuko explained that she told her mother the entire story in the letter. She held her breath as Mrs. Takani unfolded the pages and started reading.

After the first page, she started to tremble. "This is...this is some type of hoax, isn't it?"

"Takani-san, I assure you it's not..."

"Where did you get her things?" Mrs. Takani glared at Kagome. "Where is my daughter? You're hiding something from me!"

"Takani-san, I was not even two years old when the fire occurred. How could I have taken your daughter?" The answer stung, but Kagome was not surprised. She did have an ace up her sleeve though. She pulled out a photograph and handed it over.

Mrs. Takani stared at it. It showed a woman dressed in an old kimono, tired and somewhat on the thin side. Her gaze flickered to a picture of Suzuko on the mantle. then back to the photo. "That...that is Suzuko. And this letter...it is her handwriting. My baby's in the Sengoku Jidai?" Her gaze went back to Kagome. "But how did you..."

Kagome summed up her own time slip experiences as brief as possible. She even showed Mrs. Takani the Shikon no Tama that hung around her neck. Through it all, Inuyasha remained in the background, watching the women interact.

Mrs. Takani buried her face in her hands and began to sob. Then, she spent the next two hours asking Kagome every question she could think of. Finally, she managed to sit down long enough to compose a letter back to Suzuko and enclosed a photograph and gave Kagome the scarf back. "Let Suzuko keep this," she said. "The photo is more than enough."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story isn't very long at all, and is broken down into two parts simply because I wanted to revise the second part a bit before posting it. Inuyasha's unusually quiet in this tale, but it's more of a focus on Kagome than anything. My major handicap here was not having a full translation of "The Firetripper" to read, so I had to work from summaries posted on Web sites. And, I apologize for the unusual scene breaks. For some reason, this was the only thing is accepting.


	2. Part Two

A Walk With Fire  
by DQBunny  
  
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DISCLAIMER: Both Inuyasha and The Firetripper do not belong to me, but are works written by Takahashi Rumiko. I'm just borrowing their respective characters for a little while.  
  
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Part Two  
  
"Are you ready?" Inuyasha walked into Kaede's hut.  
  
"Just a minute." Kagome checked the box of items that she planned to take to Suzuko. She straightened and smiled at him. "I wanted to mention that you're being awfully good-natured about this."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Our passing messages back and forth to Suzuko-san and her parents." Kagome closed the box of medicine and gifts that had come from the Takanis. Nearly a year had passed since the first visit they made to the village. Every month, Kagome and Inuyasha made the trip to Suzuko and Shukumaru's village to deliver mail from the future and pick up a new letter from Suzuko.  
  
Kagome also forged a strong friendship with the Takanis, who hadn't breathed a word to anyone about their renewed contact with their daughter - nor the young woman who was enabling it. She usually spent several hours during her monthly visit with them explaining the past and narrating Suzuko's life and some of what happened to herself.  
  
Through it all, Inuyasha hardly complained. It unnerved Kagome somewhat. He was still the same stubborn hanyou when it came to everything else. But, when it came down to Suzuko, he never said a word. He and Shukumaru usually chatted when they visited the village, but they hadn't become friends in the way Suzuko and Kagome had. While Suzuko wasn't Sango, Kagome knew that she shared a unique bond with the older woman.  
  
Inuyasha folded his arms over his chest. "It's no big deal."  
  
"It is too a big deal. It means a lot to me." Kagome pushed the box into her backpack and headed out the door. Inuyasha followed. He paused at the edge of the village so she could climb on his back.  
  
They traveled for awhile before Inuyasha spoke. "You know...it just made me think, that's all."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"What if it was you? What if you go through the well one day and can't come back?"  
  
"If that happens, it'll be when we use the Shikon no Tama." Kagome rubbed the jewel in her fingers. "I don't see us using it for awhile. There's really no need to."  
  
"Even so...what if you were stuck here and couldn't go home? What would you do?"  
  
She considered this for a moment. "Well, it's been something I've thought about off and on since I was 15. If that happens, I'll be sad for awhile, but I will get on with my life. I've just learned to appreciate the time that I do spend with my family." She leaned her head against his. "What would you do if I was stuck in my time and couldn't come back?"  
  
His grip on her legs tightened. "Keh. That's a stupid question. I'd wait for you, of course."  
  
"You would?"  
  
"Don't sound so surprised, Kagome. I'll find a way to get back to you, I promise."  
  
She threw her arms around his neck and hugged tightly. She wanted to say something back to him, but her throat was too clogged to do so. Instead, she leaned her cheek against his head and whispered, "Thank you."  
  
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"Are you sure you don't mind this, Kagome-san? I know that this is out of your way."  
  
Kagome shook her head and smiled. "I am honored to have such a task entrusted to me," she said, then bowed to Suzuko. "I know that your parents take comfort in this."  
  
"As do I." Suzuko gazed at the photograph of her parents that Kagome brought back with her from her first trip from the future. "As happy as I've been with Shukumaru, the only thing I've regretted was not being able to tell my parents good bye." She patted her rounded stomach. "They will be glad to hear of a fourth grandchild on the way."  
  
She handed Kagome the latest letter and a package. "Would you give these to my parents the next time you return to the future? It's my school uniform...most of it at least. I kept the scarf for a keepsake. That and Shukumaru's shirt will be passed to our children."  
  
"Is everything all right, Suzuko-san?" Kagome narrowed her eyes at the older woman and tried to asses her. So far, her pregnancy seemed to be progressing as normal. Both the village midwife and Kaede had looked in on her at various points over the pregnancy. Kaede meeting Suzuko had been a fun trip in and of itself.  
  
"Everything is fine, Kagome-san. I just...I just wanted to go ahead and give my parents some happy memories, that's all. We've almost lost these things twice to fire and invasion, and I want them to be safe in case something happens again."  
  
"Of course." Kagome tucked the letter and package in her backpack.  
  
Suzuko followed Kagome out to where Inuyasha waited with Shukumaru. She embraced her quickly. "I enjoyed our meal today. I look forward to seeing you next month."  
  
"All right!" Kagome beamed at her. "By then, the baby should be here, right?"  
  
"Absolutely. I'll let you hold him or her all you want," Suzuko promised. "Please wish my parents well? And thank them again for the presents. I believe they're managing to successfully spoil their grandchildren from 432 years in the future." She grinned. "And add that I love the baby clothes."  
  
"I will!" Kagome waved as she and Inuyasha started down the road that lead back to the village.  
  
They chose to walk part of the way this time, stopping for lunch next to a creek. Inuyasha caught some fish and Kagome roasted them over a fire. It paired with the onigiri that Suzuko sent with them.  
  
"What's that?" Inuyasha asked, pointing at the package that stuck out of Kagome's pack.  
  
"Suzuko-san's school uniform. She wanted to give it back to her parents. She kept Shuei-kun's shirt and the scarf we brought back to give to her kids." Kagome licked the rice off her fingers. She grabbed another ball and hesitated before eating it. "It just seems strange. Why would she send it back?"  
  
"Maybe because her folks are lonely." Inuyasha grabbed a stick and poked at the dying fire.  
  
"Perhaps. Somehow though, I have a bad feeling about this." Kagome gazed back at the road. "Maybe we should stay a few days, Inuyasha. Just until the baby's born."  
  
"Don't you have that paper or something due soon?"  
  
"Yeah, but..."  
  
He sighed. "If you don't go back, all you'll do is whine about how much you miss school."  
  
Kagome scowled at him. "I do not whine!"  
  
"Yes you do!"  
  
"No, I don't! Not since we were chasing Naraku at any rate."  
  
"Keh!" Inuyasha grabbed a fistful of dirt and threw it on the fire, extinguishing it.  
  
She rolled her eyes and packed up the rest of the food. "Still, I wonder," she commented when they were back on the road, "what if Suzuko-san was given a choice?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well...what if she was given a chance to return to her own time? Do you think she would take it?"  
  
Inuyasha shook his head. "From what you told me, she had that chance to remain there. Instead, she came back here with Shukumaru. Not everyone gets a choice the way you do, Kagome. Didn't you just say that if you were stuck back here that you'd be sad and life would go on? I didn't ask for my mother and father to die, or for Naraku to kill Kikyou, or for Sesshoumaru to be such an ass. But those things happened. And life goes on."  
  
He gazed at her. "If you had to choose between your time and now, what would you choose?"  
  
"I guess it all depends..."  
  
"What would you choose?"  
  
"I'd have to think about it, okay?" Kagome sighed. "It's not an easy decision to make."  
  
"And, likewise, I'm sure it wasn't easy for Suzuko-san either."  
  
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A week passed before Kagome managed to find the time to schedule a visit with the Takanis. Right before she left the shrine, she remembered that she left the package that Suzuko had given her at Kaede's hut. She went back through the well and ran into her friends outside of Kaede's. Inuyasha wasn't with them, she noted. He'd kept his distance since they had their discussion about her choice on their way back from Suzuko's village, and she hated that. She would have to deal with him when she got back.  
  
"Kagome-sama, you're back already?" Miroku asked from his perch outside of his and Sango's hut.  
  
"I left the package for Suzuko-san's parents in the hut. Is it still there, Kaede-baa-chan?"  
  
"In the basket near the futon, Kagome." Kaede replied, not looking up from where she was sorting herbs.  
  
"I'll get it!" Shippo rushed inside and shortly returned with the cloth-wrapped package.  
  
Kagome accepted it from him. "I wonder where Inuyasha is?"  
  
"Kagome."  
  
She turned around and nearly stumbled back at the look on Inuyasha's face. His head was lowered and his golden eyes filled with sorrow. Her breath hitched as she wondered what happened. She dropped the package and moved to him. "Inuyasha?"  
  
He took her elbow and escorted her away from Kaede and the others. Shippo started to chase after them, but a warning glare sent him scurrying back to Miroku's side. Inuyasha led her out of the village into the forest, until they were out of sight of the others.  
  
They stopped and he fumbled for the words. "Kagome..."  
  
She frowned. Whatever he had to say, she knew it was something that she wouldn't like. "Just say it. What happened?"  
  
He dragged in a breath and stared at the ground. "I just got word from Suzuko and Shukumaru's village. They sent Takao, but I intercepted him. You didn't need to hear it from him." His eyes rose to meet hers. "Suzuko died two days ago in childbirth."  
  
Kagome's hand flew to her mouth and her vision clouded. "No...you're joking, aren't you?"  
  
"Kagome..."  
  
"You have to be joking. You're making this up!"  
  
"Kagome..."  
  
She burst into tears and he pulled her to him, helpless to do anything but hold her. She sobbed openly into his hakama as he alternatively patted her back and ran his claws up and down it, cursing everything that fate threw at them.  
  
"It's not fair," Kagome sobbed. "Her parents...they just found out she was alive again! She's got three children. Shukumaru-san. It's just...it's not fair, Inuyasha!" she beat at his chest weakly. "It's not fair! She died in childbirth! If she'd been in the modern time, it wouldn't have happened this way. Why did they come back? Why?"  
  
"Because they were happy."  
  
She pulled away and stared at him.  
  
"Don't look at me like that. You're telling me all the time that I need to be happy. Weren't they happy? Didn't Suzuko-san die happy?" His voice gentled. "Takao said the baby survived. It was a girl. They named her after you, Kagome."  
  
That brought on a fresh wave of tears as she buried her face in his hakama once more.  
  
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Kagome took the uniform and the final letter to Suzuko's parents the same day, insisting on going alone. She cried once again with them and they clung to the photograph Kagome had taken of a pregnant Suzuko with Shukumaru and their three children.  
  
She took the train across town and walked through her neighborhood just as the sun started to set. She reached the park near her old junior high and sank onto one of the empty swings.  
  
She was amazed at how sad she felt over Suzuko's death. We were all lucky for the most part, to come out of the War of the Shikon alive, she thought. Suzuko and Shukumaru had the chance to live in the present and to be happy. Why didn't they?  
  
"Shukumaru grew up in the Sengoku Jidai and loved it here," Suzuko's words came back to her. "So we chose to live here and we've been happy."  
  
_'You're telling me all the time that I need to be happy. Weren't they happy? Didn't Suzuko die happy?'  
_  
Kagome considered Inuyasha's words. She was happy, but she had a chance at so much more. Thanks to her, Suzuko could keep a relationship with her family. But then, she died before she could even fully enjoy it. She would never see her children grow up, never see her baby daughter's face...all because she chose to live in a time that didn't have the technology she needed just to get through a simple childbirth.  
  
_'If you had to choose between your time and now, what would you choose?'_  
  
What if she had to choose between remaining in the future without Inuyasha or be in the past by his side? What would she choose?  
  
It was no question. She would remain by Inuyasha's side. Her future wouldn't be a future without him in it. She loved her family, but...she loved Inuyasha as well.  
  
Suzuko had chosen Shukumaru over her family. Did it mean that she loved them any less? Of course not. Both parent and child realized that there would be a day that the child would leave home with a spouse and possibly not come back. It happened a lot more in the upper class Sengoku Jidai than it did now.  
  
Suzuko had chosen happiness. Kagome pumped her legs and started swinging. Would she be happy without Inuyasha?  
  
No.  
  
Would he be happy without her?  
  
She didn't think he would be.  
  
'I'll find a way to get back to you, I promise.'  
  
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she remembered Inuyasha's vow. Sometimes, sacrifices had to be made in order to be happy, Kagome realized. Suzuko made those sacrifices and it resulted in an early death. But, she lived 18 happy years in the past. Was it better to only have a few short years of happiness than a lifetime of loneliness?  
  
Kagome knew there was only one answer to that. It was the answer she'd known all along.  
  
She saw him coming down the sidewalk. He'd left his baseball cap behind, but she couldn't bring herself to get angry at him. Instead, she pumped her legs faster and swung higher.  
  
Inuyasha walked onto the playground and stared at her. "What the hell are you doing?"  
  
"Catch!" Kagome let go of the swing just as it crested and flew toward him.  
  
Inuyasha raced forward and caught her in his arms. The momentum propelled him backwards until he landed on the ground, on his back, with Kagome on top of him. "What the hell did you do that for?" he wheezed.  
  
She kissed his nose. "Do you know that I'm happy to be with you?"  
  
He sucked in a breath, still reeling from her sudden landing. He noticed the dried tear tracks running down her cheeks and the dazzling smile she wore. Finally, he was able to smile back. "I'm happy with you too."  
  
She kissed him, briefly but full of emotion. Then, she pulled back and got to her feet. She held out her hand. "Let's go home, Inuyasha."  
  
He gave her a bemused expression, then relaxed. Placing his hand in hers, he got to his feet. Then, hands linked, they headed home.  
  
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: See? I said this wasn't a very long story. I hope everyone enjoyed this little tale about Kagome meeting the Firetripper. For more information about the original Firetripper tale, check out Certain information I had to make up for this story, including a last name for Suzuko and Shuei and then what happened to them after the original story ended. This fic is meant to fall in the same timeline as "The Twilight Struggle" and takes place two years before that story begins. 


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